Books

03/03/2010

Randolph Carter's excellent webpage Grinding To Valhalla (link to the right) has just posted an interview with Mark Silcox and me HERE. We're chuffed both about the interview and about in at least one way being in the same company as Robin Hobb and Brian Ruckley.

Cogburn (philosophy, Louisiana State Univ.) and Silcox (humanities
& philosophy, Univ. of Central Oklahoma) note that philosophers
have traditionally been depicted as "spacey dreamers" and that "it must
be hard to imagine how the revelatory insights that philosophy is
supposed to provide could be achieved while playing video games." To
make this less difficult to imagine, the authors examine a large number
of specific video games in terms of their possible philosophical
implications. In each of seven chapters, they begin "by describing a
philosophical puzzle that arises from reflection on some particular
genre or species of video game," e.g., personal identity, theories of
perception and phenomenalism, and how violent games affect users'
ethical, moral, and aesthetic dilemmas. The final chapter deals with
"what many philosophers regard as the most important philosophical
question—'What is the meaning of life?'" Throughout, the pertinent
thinking of many philosophers, both past and present, is thoughtfully
considered. There has been an upsurge of interest in philosophy books
dealing with pop culture subjects, and this book should be of interest
to a large readership; highly recommended for all libraries.—Leon H Brody, Falls Church, VA